The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Week 3)

This is the third installment of Kristin Roberts’ “The Light at the End of the Tunnel” series

As you grow up, you become accustomed to every home cooked meal your mom makes and you crave eating out. Eating out becomes a prize in and of itself, a thing to look forward to. What no one ever tells you is that once you get to college and start living in a dorm or in an apartment by yourself or with a roommate, that those home cooked meals have now become a rarity.

In my five years at JSU, I never once lived on campus, so I’ve never had a meal plan. But I have eaten at every single dining option that the university offers, and let me tell you, after weeks of those being your sle food options, I know you will begin to crave those nice mom home cooked meals. Even with living in an apartment for five years, I rarely cooked at home. I had a job nearly my entire time at JSU, so most of my money went to simply eating out. I loved it for a long time because I could have whatever I wanted, but man… going home to eat those nice home cooked meals was something I looked forward to. I would make my mom cook extra so I could take leftovers back that I could simply heat up and not actually have to cook (I hated cooking for the longest time, especially trying to cook for just one.)

Now, however, I’m in my last semester at JSU and simply don’t have time to work to make money to eat out constantly. I live off of planned grocery shopping trips to get exactly what I need to cook for my boyfriend and myself almost every night. With that being said, let me tell you how much my boyfriend lives off of me cooking pretty much every meal he puts in his mouth.

Recently, I had a lot of homework to do and a test to prepare for the next day, so I asked him if he could maybe do dinner instead of me. He looked at me like I has asked him to murder someone. When I told him so, he replied with, “Well that would have been easier.” Do you know what he then proceeded to do? About ten minutes later I look up to him bringing me a plate with two Nilla wafers on it with peanut butter between them and a thick slice of cheese. That was it. That was his attempt at helping me make dinner. It was hilarious, but needless to say, it was a takeout for dinner kind of night. So by my last semester of college, I have come full circle back to how I was before I came to college, dining out is now a treat, something to look forward to and enjoy, rather then my regular meal of choice.

Enjoy your home cooked meals; enjoy your dining out. Cherish them both if you’re a foodie like me. You’ll miss one or the other when you have to choose.